Williamson nurse works in NYC during coronavirus pandemic

Officials are calling on health care workers to provide assistance in America's coronavirus epicenter, New York City.

"We need to recruit more health professionals. We need to share within this state and this country," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

Amy Ford, a nurse from Williamson, West Virginia, answered that call. She has been a nurse for 17 years and told WSAZ this is something she was never prepared for.

"I just felt like my services were needed more in New York than home at this time," Ford said.

After arriving in New York, Amy took to social media to share her plea, asking those back home in West Virginia to take social distancing seriously.

"I'm begging. I'm begging you to maintain social distancing," Ford said.

Ford is in New York for 21 days, working in an ICU unit at a Brooklyn hospital.

"It's roughly about 630 beds. They had three intensive care units to start with, and they converted another area to a fourth intensive care unit to hold patients who are on ventilators. The rest of the hospital is primarily all COVID-19 patients," Ford said.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, named Ford one of the "better angels," a program that highlights the stories of West Virginia residents who are being strong during the pandemic.

"It's overwhelming to think people call me a hero or an angel because I don't really feel like I did anything special. I just feel like I did what I was supposed to do as a nurse," Ford said.